Good Thursday evening. In this edition: Congress fails to reauthorize FISA ahead of deadline; and Trump calls off Iran strikes, says deal has been reached.
Plus, reconciliation, UFC and baseball.
FISA
Both chambers of Congress rejected last-ditch efforts to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), all but ensuring the authority for the controversial spy program will expire on Friday.
The House failed to approve a three-week extension in a 198–218 vote, well short of the two-thirds majority needed, with all but seven Democrats joining 19 Republicans in opposition.
The Senate also defeated three separate unanimous consent requests to approve short-term extensions.
Section 702, which allows the government to conduct warrantless surveillance of foreign targets abroad, is viewed as a mission-critical tool by the intelligence community, and lawmakers in both parties agree on its importance despite concerns over the incidental collection of Americans' data.
However, President Trump's appointment of Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence derailed efforts to renew the program, as Democrats balked at his lack of experience in national security and intelligence matters as well as his history of targeting the president's political opponents from his current perch atop a mortgage regulatory agency.
After several short-term extensions, bipartisan negotiators agreed last week to a carefully crafted three-year FISA reauthorization bill, and it was expected to pass with significant Democratic support, a necessity to get any renewal effort through Congress. But Mr. Pulte's announcement last Tuesday caused Democrats to withdraw their support.
Republican leaders' backup plan was a three-week extension to buy more time for talks, but Democrats shot it down, demanding that Mr. Pulte's appointment be completely reversed.
After the House vote, President Trump announced he will nominate Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan and former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to be the next permanent director of national intelligence.
"Few people anywhere in the Legal Community are respected at the level of Jay," the president wrote on social media. "I encourage the United States Senate to confirm Jay as soon as possible."
Republican leaders had urged President Trump to quickly name a permanent successor to Tulsi Gabbard as DNI, hoping to mollify Democrats' concerns, but the announcement of Mr. Clayton does not appear to have changed their calculus in demanding Mr. Pulte never oversee the nation's 18 intelligence agencies.
The House has left town for a one-week recess and will not vote again until June 23, effectively ensuring the Section 702 authority will lapse for the first time since it was created in 2008.
Earlier this year, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court recertified Section 702 procedures through 2027, but without Congress renewing the underlying statutory authority, the program could face legal uncertainty even with a potential executive order.
Senate Republicans plan to move quickly on Mr. Clayton's nomination, and the Intelligence Committee announced plans to hold a confirmation hearing Wednesday, a remarkably quick turnaround.
President Trump said he was canceling further strikes on Iran planned for this evening and claimed that a deal with the country had been reached, despite Tehran saying nothing had been finalized.
This morning, the president threatened to hit Iran "VERY HARD" and have the U.S. military seize control of Kharg Island, a landmass in the Persian Gulf that serves as Iran's main oil export hub.
"At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela, which is working out brilliantly," he wrote on Truth Social.
Then, in the afternoon, he announced he was calling off the strikes, saying that a deal had been approved by "all parties."
"Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening," he wrote on social media.
Speaking to reporters a few hours later in the Oval Office, the president said Iran's supreme leader had agreed to a deal and that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen as soon as it's signed, which he said could happen as soon as this weekend in Europe.
"It's a very strong memorandum of understanding," he told reporters. "That is a little conceptual, but it's something that's going to get done."
He said the finalized deal would not allow Iran to possess a nuclear weapon, which the U.S. stated as its primary goal when launching the war in February.
"They will not have a nuclear weapon. They've agreed to that," President Trump said.
Asked why he believed a deal would materialize this time after promising for months that an agreement was on the verge of coming together, the president said, "because they've taken a pounding."
"They've taken a pounding like very few people could take. And they want to make the deal a lot more than I do," he said.
"It's a great deal for the United States and for the Middle East, and I think, ultimately, great for Iran, because they'll be able to build up their country and have a country. I really believe it's a regime change, because I find these people to be much more rational than the people that are no longer with us."
Oil prices fell on news of the canceled strikes and the nascent agreement, with Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, trading at about $88 per barrel Thursday afternoon, down from roughly $93 on Wednesday.
Stocks also soared, with the S&P 500 closing up 1.75% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gaining 2.5%.
President Trumpdemanded that congressional Republicans "IMMEDIATELY" begin the process of a third reconciliation bill to provide $350 billion in new Pentagon funding, as well as an overhaul of the nation's elections. "No games, no delays, and no weak compromises!" he wrote on social media. "Do this ASAP." It's unclear whether there will be enough time — or appetite — to go through the cumbersome reconciliation process, which can skirt a Democratic filibuster, with few legislative weeks remaining before the November midterms.
Secretary of State Marco Rubiosigned a memorandum of understanding with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to create a public-private partnership with the mixed martial arts company ahead of its Sunday cage matches on the White House South Lawn. He said the partnership, like the one signed with the NFL earlier this year, would unite Americans and promote sports diplomacy. President Trump is an investor in the UFC's parent company, TKO, and is friends with its president and CEO, Dana White.
Republicanstrounced Democrats in the Congressional Baseball Game, winning 13–2 at Nationals Park for their sixth straight victory. The annual game, dating to 1909, is used to raise money for charity and, this year, pulled in a record $3.2 million, topping last year's $2.8 million for a foundation that supports DC-area nonprofits and scholarships.
For your radar…
The Center for American Progress hosts a panel of media professionals on Friday to discuss the role of documentary storytelling in helping to communicate policy issues. Watch LIVE on C-SPAN2 at 12:30pm ET.
